


Hermits Rising

by Leopardmask



Category: Flight Rising, Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Brief descriptions of sensory overload, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Dragons, Gen, Non-human hermits - Freeform, Rescue Mission, The Shade - Freeform, breathing problems
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25901089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leopardmask/pseuds/Leopardmask
Summary: The Shade’s ambition knows no bounds, not even the bound between universes. It found a realm teeming with living worlds, ripe for consumption, and flooded in.The darkness swept across the sky, tendrils reaching for the ground, and everywhere it touched became Void. There was no saving this world, so in desperation, Xisuma evacuated everyone to a new world. But the Shade’s pull dragged them off course, to a different place... and different forms.
Comments: 48
Kudos: 75





	1. A New Jungle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: brief descriptions of sensory overload and breathing problems. Overload is in the paragraph starting with "Something else jumped out at him too"; both more overload and the breathing problems are in the last paragraph.

Xisuma grumbled to himself as he returned to consciousness. That worldhop had not gone smoothly. Between the lack of proper setup and scouting, and the _reason_ for the lack of proper setup and scouting... 

He opened his eyes and felt a brief thrill of panic when he found himself surrounded by green. For one anxious moment, he feared that the jump hadn’t even worked. That he was still in his own jungle, trapped in that world, as Void overtook the land and sky, swallowing everything in its path-

The sky now, though, was a beautiful turquoise blue, unblemished but for a few lazy clouds. And this was certainly _a_ jungle, or at least a very lush area, but it wasn’t a familiar one.

_A new start,_ Xisuma thought, sitting up slightly. His head was still spinning a bit. _A little more sudden than any of us would have liked, but nothing we haven’t done before._

Where had everyone gone? They should have known to stick around for a headcount after an experience like that. Unless the hasty transport had dumped everyone in random places. But in that case, they should have sounded off in chat... if they could.

Maybe he could find them using admin power. He closed his eyes and called up a list of the world’s inhabitants.

He wouldn’t have been surprised if they had arrived in an already-occupied world, but he didn’t expect a list of _millions._ There were so many that each inhabitant was listed by a number first, then name, then what Xisuma could only assume was a physical description, though none of it made sense to him. Phrases like “Avocado Slime” and “Eldritch Butterfly” jumped out at him as he skimmed by.

Something else jumped out at him too. So subtly that he didn’t notice at first, he started picking up some sort of energy from anyone on the list that he lingered on. Every bit was slightly different, and the energies gradually overlapped and vibrated against each other and grated in his mind until he couldn’t take it anymore and dismissed the whole list just after reaching the 6-digit numbers. He sank back to the ground with a groan, his claws pressed tight over the stone-like feature on his forehead.

...His what?

The _what_ on his head??

Xisuma could get so focused on a problem, sometimes, and not even notice what was happening in front of his own nose. Or snout. He could tell, now, from his proprioception, the position he was lying in on the ground, the sensation of extra limbs on his back, that the jump had _changed_ him. He twisted his head around - easier to do, on its long, snakey neck - to get a good look at himself.

He had a slender form, with almost bird-like feet, and delicate hands hidden by armored gloves. His whole body was covered in fine, downy feathers, with a mane of bigger feathers running all the way down his back and ending in a large tuft at the end of a strong tail. His wings also had feathers, on the leading edge, but they transitioned to membrane like a bat’s wings farther down, and ended in strange, fingerlike claws.

He was no longer in a remotely human body. There was only one word he could think of to describe himself now.

_Dragon._ His already anxious breathing quickened more.

Which made him realize he didn't have his helmet.

  
He had _a_ helmet, but it was just armor with an attached pair of purple goggles, not the complex computer he was used to. He wasn't struggling to breathe as much as he expected - the humidity in the air seemed to help - but the thought that he _should_ be, combined with the maelstrom of stimulus and stress around him, was enough to make his breath start hitching and wheezing, more and more, until it was too much for his tired brain, and he briefly passed out once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Xisuma](https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/58640463)
> 
> Welcome to my side project! There is no upload schedule. For the most part I want to only put out chapters for dragonhermits that I already have, mostly so I can link them like I did above, and this is still a side project, so after the first few, updates will probably slow dramatically as I currently only have seven dragonhermits so far. Don't worry about NCV, I'm still updating it a few times a week, mostly unaffected by this - this chapter is only out when it is because I apparently just can't stand having completed chapters sitting around in Google docs for more than, like... a day.


	2. Rendezvous

The next time he awoke, Xisuma’s head was a little clearer. His unconscious brain had apparently done a little bit of the sorting for him. He still didn’t know where he was, where everyone else was, or even  _ what _ he was for sure, but he felt more confident that he could figure it out.

First: find the others. Judging by his own form, the other hermits had probably all been transformed as well, which would make finding them that much more challenging. They had apparently retained - or regained, as it may be - a few identifying features, though, like Xisuma’s green theme and armor. But in a world of millions... how far apart must they be?

Xisuma wondered how easy it would be to fly.

To his mild surprise, the answer was “very easy” - despite the bizarre shape of his wings, he could lift almost vertically off the ground, and maneuver and hover easily in the sky. He decided to start by just flying in widening circles, close to the treetops, and seeing if he could spot anyone. Or maybe sense their presence with the strange sixth sense he was still getting used to.

Only a few minutes had passed when that sense, indeed, suddenly became very handy. Xisuma could tell that someone - another dragon, he was pretty sure - was nearby. What's more, they somehow felt familiar, despite Xisuma only having had this ability for a few hours. He landed in the canopy of a tree and started climbing along branches, wheezing slightly from the flight.

As he got closer, he could hear a monumental rustling, like someone was fighting something big. He knew, though, that the person - dragon - wasn't scared or hostile; they were mostly frustrated.

He wondered how he knew that.

The sound halted for a moment, replaced by someone grumbling. Then more brief struggling. Then a very familiar voice cried, "Oh, for goodness' sake!"

Finally, Xisuma was close enough to reach the source of the noise through the trees. He saw a huge dragon, probably five times his own length, with a mane, leathery wings, and an impressive pair of branching antlers that were currently tangled in a clump of vines. The dragon was mostly black, with red on the trailing edge of his wings and in streaks that ran like lightning across his face and neck, and wore a suit coat that matched his color nicely. Perched on his face was a feature that looked a little silly at the tip of his long snout: a mustache.

"Mumbo?" Xisuma called tentatively.

Mumbo jerked and tried to turn his head, only to be thwarted by the vines again. "Xisuma? Is that you? Where are you?"

"Right here," Xisuma called, realizing that his green feathers probably blended in very well with the jungle leaves. "Hold still, I'll come to you."

Mumbo just stared as Xisuma clambered into view. Xisuma, in his entirety, was only about the size of Mumbo’s head. "You're... Why are you so much smaller than me?"

"No idea," Xisuma declared. "People in this world come in all shapes and sizes, I suppose. But that's good right now, because that means I'm in a good position to help you out! If I may?" He reached questioningly toward Mumbo's head.

"Anything to get me out of these stupid vines, mate."

Xisuma nodded and tentatively climbed onto Mumbo's antlers. "Still good?"

"I can barely feel you, dude," Mumbo replied, surprise and general confusion rolling off him like waves. "What are you made of, twigs and kite string?"

Xisuma just laughed and started picking at the offending vines. 

He soon realized that, while he did have claws, they weren't very sharp, so tearing the vines away was not an option. Most of them, he had to meticulously untie. One knot was so stubborn that, in frustration, Xisuma bit at it. As it turned out, his teeth were much better for the job than his claws. He distractedly started chewing on the chunk he had taken out of the plant as he worked the rest free with his... front feet? Hands? He'd go with "hands".

They chatted as Xisuma worked. "So," Mumbo asked, "um... any ideas as to what's going on here?"

"Well, obviously, we're not in a world we're supposed to be in." Xisuma explained his attempt at admin magic and the millions upon millions of inhabitants of the world. "That's why our biology has changed like this: it's an attempt by the multiverse to match us to what people are 'supposed' to look like here."

"And I assume you can't just jump us somewhere more familiar," Mumbo speculated, "or you would have done so already."

"Yep," Xisuma sighed. "My magic is pretty limited here. I can look at the codes, but I can't touch. Which makes sense, since I think there are already eleven extra-powerful people here - they would be the only ones who could instate a new admin."

"Eleven??" Mumbo exclaimed. "Well, I guess that makes sense, actually, with so many people to look after. D'you think we should try to find one of them for help?"

"If we can, yeah," Xisuma decided. "Unfortunately, I don't know where they  _ are. _ I can just tell that the first few names in the list have a lot more power than anyone else, and they're listed not just as admins or something like that, but  _ deities." _

"Well, that seems like an even better bet then, doesn't it?"

Xisuma nodded. “Yeah. Again, though, I can’t find anything on where they are... And more importantly, I don't know where any of the other hermits are. Finding you was really lucky, I think."

“At least we did find each other,” Mumbo pointed out. “So neither of us is trying to figure this out on our own. Maybe some of the others got lucky too, and they’re in little groups like we are.”

“I like that attitude,” Xisuma replied, pulling away the last vine. “Alright, you’re free, for now. Maybe we could try flying above the canopy for a while? I thought I saw some landmarks that might help us.”

“Oh,” Mumbo said nervously. “I hadn’t thought to try flying yet.” He stretched his wings experimentally. “Reckon I need a running start?”

“Wouldn’t hurt,” Xisuma agreed. “Here, I’ll get off, so you don’t need to worry about me when you take off. I might hop back on once you’re in the air, though.” He fluttered back over to a branch.

Mumbo looked around, plotting a runway that would give him room to spread his massive wings. He backed up a step, galloped forward, and sprang into the air. Xisuma cheered as Mumbo’s wingbeats buffeted the branches he was clutching.

Once the air had settled, Xisuma rose to meet Mumbo and landed on his back, holding on to Mumbo’s mane for security. “Well?”

“Oh, this is grand,” Mumbo smiled. “Not too different from elytra, really, once I’ve lifted off of course. I feel like I could just glide forever.”

“Lucky you, I can’t seem to glide too well,” Xisuma chuckled. “Ooh, check  _ that _ out.”

Mumbo looked where Xisuma indicated, and laughed. “Wait until Iskall finds out about this, right?”

Somewhere in the distance ahead of them, a massive tree spread its branches, stretching high above the rest of the canopy. It was so enormous that it was difficult to get a sense of scale - they could be hundreds of miles away, or about to run into its branches.

“Speaking of Iskall,” Xisuma realized, “someone must live in that behemoth, right? One of the ‘deities’ that I saw in the list, probably. It can’t have just been generated there by accident. I think that tree is somewhere we need to go.”

Mumbo slowly banked toward the tree. “I reckon it’s a good rendezvous for the other hermits, too, don’t you think? We can’t really  _ tell _ them that, of course, but they can guess that going to a big tall landmark would give them a good chance of crossing paths.”

“Oh, very good point.”

They continued gliding comfortably this way for some time... until, as they neared the canopy once more, a red shape just a little bigger than Xisuma came rocketing out of the trees, straight toward Mumbo’s head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Mumbo](https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/60297309)


	3. Boomer Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for threat of drowning in the first segment.

Impulse spluttered and thrashed as he unceremoniously appeared in the ocean. It wasn’t a small island, like their better-planned hops, no, this was in the middle of the water. His head dropped under, and he struggled back to the surface, looking around, trying to tread water.

There was land he could see, as he dipped underwater again. He pointed himself toward it and started paddling.

\-----

Impulse woke again with a start, sprawled on land this time, a sluggish tide washing across him. He rolled over, coughing up water, and crawled away from the waves. Finally, he looked around, trying to get his bearings. The ground was oddly spongy - it reminded him of mycelium. Or maybe crimson nylium, judging by the color. This theory was strengthened by what seemed to be a giant mushroom in the distance. But he was distracted by a much more imminent problem: the sleeping, black, red, and yellow dragon in front of him.

It wasn’t asleep for much longer. The dragon’s eyes - two sets of eyes! - flicked open, revealing a shade of red that Impulse found strangely unintimidating, despite the circumstances. He yelped in surprise, tensing to run.

The dragon, in response to the sudden motion, also yelled, backing away and tripping over his tail. Impulse gasped. That was a yell he had heard many, many times. And with the eyes-

“Tango??”

Tango froze. “Wait. Impulse, is that you???”

“Oh, my gosh.” Impulse paced around Tango, trying to get a good look at his friend. Tango stared equally intently back at him. “What happened? Why are you- dude! You’re an honest-to-goodness dragon!”

“Me?” Tango cried. “What about you? You’re one too, if you hadn’t noticed!”

Impulse twisted his head around. Both of them had similar builds, standing on four paws, with sleek, subtly-scaled bodies and long, whip-like tails. Impulse’s body was all black, while Tango’s had black and red stripes, with a bone-like yellow pattern across his paws and face. Looking back at Tango, Impulse put one paw up to his own head, playing with the long fins extending from his skull. He put his paw down and flicked one fin experimentally. Tango flicked a fin in return, making Impulse laugh. Except for the colors, it was like looking in a mirror.

Impulse looked back again. “Dude, check out my wings! That’s so cool. It’s like they’ve got me written all over them.” His wings faded from yellow on the leading edge to black on the trailing, with bold, eye-like black and yellow spots across them. Impulse stretched them wide gleefully. “Cooler than yours,” he teased.

Tango eyed his faintly-striped yellow wings. “Yeah, yeah. Looks like I’ve got armor of some kind on, though, which is cooler. How are you so chill with this?”

Impulse shrugged. “I dunno, man. It just feels pretty normal. I honestly didn’t realize until you said something, although I guess I was a little busy freaking out about everything else.”

“Normal??” Tango asked incredulously, flapping his wings for emphasis. “What about this is  _ normal? _ We’ve got-” He paced in a small circle, almost tripping on his tail again. “We’ve got tails to worry about now, we’re walking around on all fours, we’ve got  _ actual wings-” _

“Hey, hey,” Impulse tried, reaching out to stop Tango. Tango kept pacing, his tail whipping at Impulse’s face. Impulse grabbed it out of frustration.  _ “Tango.” _

Tango, pulled to a stop by Impulse’s hold, turned back around, breathing hard. In the back of his mind, Impulse noted that it looked like Tango was breathing mostly through the gill-shaped structures on his torso, then registered that he was doing the same himself.

“Look,” Impulse declared. “It won’t do us any good panicking about this, right?”

Tango sighed and nodded. He hated when Impulse was right.

Impulse let go of Tango’s tail. “Let’s just take things one step at a time. Literally, if you need to. We’re alive, we’re somewhere, we’re hopefully out of the Void’s reach. Let’s explore and see if we can’t find some food and shelter before night.”

\-----

Hunting with tooth and claw came naturally to Impulse. Both seemed to have some sort of instincts that came with their new dragon forms, but Tango struggled to use them. “You’re overthinking again,” Impulse told him for the zillionth time, as another strange prey animal slipped away.

Tango growled. “I’m never gonna get used to this. We’re stuck here, we’re  _ animals, _ we're searching out raw meat for dinner. I can’t even figure out how to hunt on four paws...”

Impulse brushed against him, trying to calm him down. “Hey. Remember what I said? Baby steps. You’ll get the hang of this. In the meantime, I’m doing a decent job of hunting for both of us. Maybe if we find some actual dry wood we can figure out how to make a fire. Oh! Speaking of which, I think I figured out the weird vision thing.”

“You did?” Tango frowned. Both of them had noticed some sort of overlay in their sight, but neither had been able to focus on it well enough to understand it.

“Yeah!” Impulse sounded excited. “I think it’s some sort of heat vision. It’s definitely brighter around you and me, and there’s a little bit of heat coming up off the ground that I can see too. And...” He trailed off with a grin. 

“Right there,” Impulse whispered, tail lashing. He slowly dropped into a crouch, then leaped at a nearby bush. He emerged triumphantly, holding in his mouth a mouse-like creature with glowing baubles hanging from its whiskers. “See? Heat vision. Super cool.”

\-----

It had been a couple days of wandering, when they stumbled across a commotion. Three other dragons, the same kind as they were, were standing in a circle, jeering and harassing something bright blue and purple in their midst. Another type of dragon? The victim stood on two legs, not four, but they had wings, wore clothing, and looked very nervous at the attention.

“What’s going on there?” Impulse wondered.

“Not our problem,” Tango declared. “This is a different world. We don’t know how fast we’ll recover from a fight - or what’ll happen if one of us dies. We can’t risk it.”

One of the bullying dragons growled something about a “Twoleg” and shoved at the dragon in the middle. “HEY!” the middle dragon yelled, nearly falling. He balled his front paws into obviously-useless fists. “Watch it, stupid! I-I’m warning you, I’m dangerous-”

Impulse and Tango shared a look, recognizing the voice. “White shirt, black pants,” Tango pointed out. “Red headband.”

“Yep,” Impulse agreed. “I think this just became our problem.”

With two inexperienced fighters against three, with no idea what would happen if they were injured or killed, they agreed that the element of surprise would be their biggest advantage. Each would try to engage one of the bullies.

Impulse sidled around to the right, aiming for the dark green dragon there. Just as he was preparing to leap, Bdubs spotted him. The green dragon, following Bdubs’ eyeline, whipped around and snarled. “Thief! This Twoleg is  _ ours. _ ”

The shout drew the attention of the other two bullies.  _ So much for surprise. That’s good for Tango, though. _ Impulse flared his wings, displaying his eyespots and trying to look imposing. “Oh yeah?” Impulse growled, thinking fast. “Not for long. I’m taking him from you.”

“Find your own mark,” spat a garish pink and blue dragon.

“Nah,” Impulse replied with forced casualness. “I’ve decided I want this one.”

At that moment, Tango jumped onto the back of the pink and blue dragon, digging his claws in to avoid being thrown off. Impulse clashed with the green one, and the third - red and brown - turned back to Bdubs, guarding him so he wouldn’t run off.

Impulse and the green dragon circled each other warily. The green dragon feinted toward him. Impulse felt a sudden surge of energy, and surged forward at lightning speed. The bully jerked and backed away at Impulse’s swipe, like they had been electrocuted. They hissed. Impulse lunged again. The green dragon dodged backward again. A few feet away, the pink and blue dragon finally threw Tango off their back.

Bdubs watched the conflict with growing nervousness. He couldn’t leave, with the red dragon snapping at his heels. These four-eyed dragons weren’t very nice, he had decided, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to be the slave, or plaything, or prey, or whatever, of any of them. Something was building in the back of his throat. He thought he might cry, or cough, or-

Smoke started to rise from his nostrils. He coughed twice, then shot a bolt of flame from his mouth that struck the pink dragon right between its shoulders. Startled, Bdubs tried to scramble back, only to be shoved forward by the red dragon. Bdubs turned around. The dragon backed up, now clearly wary of fire, as well as the huge claws on Bdubs’ feet. Bdubs gave the red dragon a mocking grin, brandishing one foot around while hopping on the other. “Yeah! Come get a piece, guy! I’ll slice ya!”

On the edge of his vision, he saw the black and yellow dragon swipe at the green one again, and the green dragon briefly fell to the ground, twitching. That was enough. The three bullies finally turned tail and ran. Bdubs put his foot down and grinned. “Yep, ol’ Bdubs has still got it!” he remarked to himself. He coughed out another puff of smoke. “...well, he’s got something, at least.”

The two newcomers bounded toward him. Alarmed, Bdubs stepped back, mouth starting to smoke again. “S-stay back!” he cried. “Stay back or I’ll flame ya! Just because you fought off those others doesn’t mean you’re-”

At his reaction, the two four-eyed dragons immediately stopped their advance. One stood there confused, but the other dropped into a pose that reminded Bdubs of a submissive dog. A pose that meant  _ no harm. _ “Bdubs, it’s fine,” the crouching, black and yellow dragon said in a rush. “It’s totally fine, we’re friends, you know us!” He looked over at the other dragon. “Tango, say something! He doesn’t recognize us by sight, remember? He thinks we’re just a gang like the other ones.”

The smoke went out. Bdubs looked from one to the other in surprise. “Wait. Tango? Impulse?? It’s you!! Oh my goodness, it’s you!!” He hopped excitedly from foot to foot. “Oh! I found you, I found you!”

Tango finally spoke up, grinning. “We found  _ you! _ That’s great! I wonder if we’ll be able to find the others, too.”

“We must have gotten pretty scattered,” Impulse pointed out. “But we’re here, the three of us. That means other hermits might have found each other too. As long as none of the others dropped into the middle of the ocean like I did...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Impulse](https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/62147577), [Tango](https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/62161474), and [Bdubs!](https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/64944154) (The anime eyes are as canon or non-canon as you wish them to be, but whichever way you choose, Bdubs' natural eye color in this setting is orange.)


	4. Just Keep Swimming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slimes are quite malleable people.

Jevin spawned underwater.

Either that or he had appeared at the surface and sunk this deep before gaining consciousness, but that seemed unlikely. He was VERY deep underwater. Deeper, in fact, than he realized oceans could go, and there were still more vast depths below him. Rising from those depths in the distance was a huge building, shaped like a spiraling shell, and obviously housing hundreds of residents swimming in and out. Jevin would have loved to stop and stare, but it was really time he started heading for the surface, so that he could hopefully reach it before he waterlogged or suffocated. Instead he took a good long look at it as he moved, tucking the image away in his mind as inspiration for later.

As soon as he started swimming, Jevin realized that he was shaped differently than he was used to. It surprised him, but he had never been particularly rigid in his bodily preferences, so he quickly accustomed himself to it and kept going. It was quite a useful change, actually; whether or not this body was designed for swimming, it was certainly good at it, with stiff fins on his head and neck, stubby yet strong wings on his back, four big, flat paws, and an almost crocodilian tail. He powered through the water much more easily than he ever could have as a humanoid.

He rose higher, toward the faint light filtering down from above. He had been swimming for quite some time now, and hadn’t felt any effects of the lack of air, nor of osmosis pushing outward at his skin. In a normal world, Jevin would have died by now. This was either fortunate or concerning. Jevin decided to pick one when he reached the surface. He hadn’t seen anyone else, and surely not all the hermits had suddenly gained the ability to no longer need air - he hadn’t exactly started out human, after all - so to find the others, he probably needed to find land.

By the time Jevin’s head broke the surface, the sun was starting to set. He had no idea what time it was when he first woke up here, but he clearly had been swimming for quite some time. This world was huge, he was realizing, bigger than anything he was used to, and probably not any world Xisuma had intended to take them to. He wondered if maybe he should have gone down instead, to the spiral palace, and asked some locals what was going on. He was pretty sure he could find it again later, though. First, he wanted to find some friends.

A look around showed that he really was way out in the middle of an ocean. So, figuring he’d have to hit land eventually, he picked a direction - east, facing away from the glare of the setting sun - gave a mental sigh, and swam on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Jevin](https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/66639187) is here!


	5. Jungle Gang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xisuma finds more hermits, and they make some plans.

Mumbo veered suddenly to one side to dodge the assailant. Xisuma yelped, clutching Mumbo's mane tighter in an effort to not be thrown off. The red blur shot past, trailing a distinctive cry: "Mumboooooooo!"

"Oh, goodness me," Mumbo exclaimed, twisting his head around to follow the flight path. "Was that Grian?"

The red dragon flipped back to face them, slowing into a glide and revealing yellow wings decorated with - as far as either could tell, mostly aesthetic - purple feathers. It was hard to see the expression on his spiky face, but Xisuma could tell this dragon was elated. He fell into pace with Mumbo as Mumbo banked into a lazy circle. "Mumbo!" he called again. "It's me!"

"It sure is, mate," Mumbo chuckled. "And you found us!"

"We did!" Grian declared proudly. "Or, I did, I- wait, 'us'? Who do you have with you, then?"

Xisuma stood up taller on Mumbo's back and waved. "Hello! I'm here too!"

Grian nearly fell out of the sky in surprise. "X! Whoa, you're even smaller than I am, there's a switch. You have X! Oh, man, follow me down this way, we have got to show the others."

"The others?" Mumbo wondered, following Grian down through a gap in the trees. "Who have you found?"

"You'll see," Grian teased. As Mumbo touched down for a landing, Grian grabbed Mumbo's antler with his feet, hanging upside down and wrapping his wings around himself like a bat. He flipped his head around and grinned at Xisuma, who just chuckled and flapped into the trees, branch-hoping so Mumbo wouldn't have to carry everyone at once.

A larger green dragon met them in a small clearing. They stood almost as tall as Mumbo, but stockier, less serpentine, and adorned with spikes and fins rather than hair - although they did have a beard. Seeing Grian hanging cheerfully from Mumbo's antlers, they burst out in a cackle that warmed Mumbo's heart to hear again.

“Nice new earring there, mate,” Iskall joked.

“Thanks, I just found it by the side of the road,” Mumbo replied, earning a laugh from both Iskall and Grian.

“Well, this is just wonderful,” Xisuma exclaimed. “There’s four of us all together now! Or, wait-” He frowned. “I’m still learning how it is that I can sense... people... but is there a fifth here?”

“Yes, there is!” Iskall replied. They prodded at what had at first glance looked like a pink scarf around their neck. “She’s been asleep, somehow.”

A narrow head, with gracefully curved horns and big blue eyes, poked up above Iskall’s head. “Woz ‘appenin’?” she asked tiredly. Seeing the others, she was suddenly wide awake. She uncoiled herself from around Iskall’s neck, revealing a snake-like body, purple and white wings (and more wing membranes on arms and legs), and flowery decorations that shed petals around her as she moved. “Ooh! Did you all find more hermits? Mumbo and... got to be Xisuma, right?”

“Ah, Stress!” Xisuma replied by way of a greeting. “It’s so good to see you too! That’s amazing that you three all found each other so quickly.”

“If everyone gets found this easily, we’ll all be back together in no time!” Grian trilled. “Look, we’ve already got almost the whole Jungle Gang back together!”

“Scar’s close by then,” Stress mused. “Or at least not too far off. Everyone else is probably miles away though.”

“What? How do you figure that?” Grian asked.

“You said it yourself, we’re all Jungle Gang 'ere,'' Stress explained. “Plus X, who was off in ‘is own jungle. And now ‘ere we are, in more jungle. What if we’ve all been dropped in the same biomes we left behind?”

“Or it could be that we’re all less spread out than we thought,” Mumbo pointed out, “but because we  _ are _ in a jungle here it just feels like we’re miles apart through all the plants and terrain.”

Xisuma nodded. “Both seem pretty likely to me at this point, although I’m inclined toward Stress’s idea. If we all spawned into the jungle, what are the chances that the first five of us to meet up are all people who were already in jungles before?”

“‘Course, the question then is,” Stress continued, “are we in the biomes we last set spawns in? Or are we where we was when we hopped?”

"My bed was in my mansion, I think," Grian said tentatively, "but I went back to my hobbit hole when we needed to get to safety. So I guess it's wherever we were in... in the last moments..."

His voice cracked a little at the memory. The mood sombered, and they all fell silent.

Finally, Mumbo spoke. "Maybe we could find the others that way, if we can narrow it down to biomes."

Xisuma shook his head. "Still better to go to a landmark first, I think. People were all over the place - bases, secondary bases, neighbors', I think a couple hermits even checked in from underneath Decked Out, and who knows where the nearest mushroom biome might be. We’ll need help getting back together. We'll keep heading north for now, hopefully find out where one of this world's 'deities' lives, and figure things out further from there."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Grian,](https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/67270645) [Iskall,](https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/62322976) and [Stress!](https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/57375270)
> 
> So obviously the events of just-before-this-fic in general happened either before the base swap or after they swap back, probably before. Or it ignores the base swap. Something like that.


End file.
